"Best Craft Chain? Hobby Lobby!" Topic

You were asked – TMP link

What [North American] craft chain provides you the most supporting materials seen on your miniatures and table tops? Paints, inks, glues, etc.

34% said "Hobby Lobby"
26% said "Michael's"
7% said "Dick Blick"

Never been, never will.

Are there Hobby Lobby's in Canada? B.C.?

There is a Hobby Lobby in Ontario.

Unfortunately, it is Ontario, Ohio.

I don't do business with criminals.

Care to elaborate or do you just like to drop bombs and walk away?

Hobby Lobby = my last resort for supplies.

Care to elaborate or do you just like to drop bombs and walk away?

From the early 2000s the Green family (who own Hobby Lobby) purchased and imported thousands of stolen, looted, and illegally excavated artifacts for their Museum of the Bible. Not surprisingly, the activity really took off following the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The items were overwhelmingly purchased via parties that had little to no record of their acquisition (i.e.,fences) and then imported under false documentation to avoid detection by the authorities. The use of these dealers sufficiently insulated the Green family from charges of financially supporting terrorism, there being strong evidence that many items were stolen, looted, or illegally excavated under the auspices of groups like the Islamic State, Hezbollah, and Hamas.

The U.S. filed a civil complaint which led to the seizure and return of roughly 15,000 illegal artifacts to Iraq, Egypt and Israel. Israeli authorities provided direct evidence of the Green family's involvement in acquiring the objects, and most of the items were seized from Hobby Lobby warehouses. In addition to the return of the items, Hobby Lobby paid a $3 USD million fine.

Fun fact: the Museum of the Bible is a nonprofit funded by the Green family. Their item donations (illegal or otherwise) are dedcuted at appraised value, not purchase value, in order to obtain a greater tax write off. Their unique methods of acquisition mean the Museum is largely taxpayer funded. In particular, documents seized by the Israeli authorities show deliberate intent of tax evasion.

There's even more if you care to dig, including fakes and items still unaccounted for, but yes, I do not do business with criminals.

A friend was in our local one just before,the November election. There was a huge Trump 2020 sign in the lobby. Politics has no place in a hobby shop! That along with other issues will ensure that I never set foot in one.

One of my "go to" stores for all kinds of goodies! They have a great selection and great prices.

Your portrayal of their "crime" brings to mind that Hobby Lobby people, dressed as Indiana Jones, were in dungeons and burial grounds riffling through the mummies to bring back stolen goods. Looking over some of the news and WIKI looks like they were in business of obtaining artifacts for museum through dealing with people in Iraq and England. They definitely should have been more careful, and paid the price ($3 Million dollars) and returned all the artifacts. Not exactly criminals, IMHO.

And as for a company not being political, it's OK for Facebook, Google, Amazon, Coca Cola, the list goes on, but not for Hobby Lobby?

My beef with Hobby Lobby is that they did away with their 40% off a single item coupons earlier in the year.

Too bad because there is one right across from my office and I frequently used to pop over their over lunch and get a new 40% off item to build up my hobby supplies. I guess I can't do that anymore.

I try to support local whenever and as often as possible, and we have some truly great ones in Ontario (Wheels and Wings, Meeplemart, and Sunward in Toronto, to name a few; Hobby Centre and Hobby House in Ottawa). For 15mm and micro, I often use Sentry Box in Calgary. All terrific retailers.

There is also Michael's, which can be expensive, but has a reasonable selection of supplies and paint and there is one in every major town, it seems.

However, their own corporate practices leave me a little cold. For example, they purchased a great retailer several years ago, Darice, with a 60-year history, promising great things, but when the purchase agreement ended, they closed the company and laid off everyone, closing the associated retail outlets (under the Pat Catan name) too. Darice was beloved of the craft community, and of board gamers too: their 32-compartment bead storage trays with curved bottoms were the bees' knees for cardboard counter storage, and I use them for this purpose and for microarmour storage.

But the big cat consumed the small cat, Darice is no more, and the things we used to value from them are now magnitudes more expensive from Michael's. All's fair in love and business?

They definitely should have been more careful, and paid the price ($3 Million dollars) and returned all the artifacts.

They were very careful. They worked with dealers who could and would specifically get them what they wanted, "no questions asked". Again, the Israelis seized paperwork that shows a deliberate attempt to conceal and obfuscate their activitie. And they falsified import papers to get the goods into the country.

Here in my area, Michaels recently opened, replacing a terrific A.C. Moore. Totally different shopping experience. Except for balsa wood, I'd rather shop at a dollar store for paint and odd and ends. I found the staff hard to find and less than helpful.

I try to shop local. That means DickBlick. Good store, though with an artist-focus they lack some ranges the craft-focus chains carry. Widening the net brings several Michaels in. For lunch runs from my work (when I didn't work from home), JoAnne's is the only craft store in range.